Content Warning: many of these updates include information about harmful attacks on Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) and LGBTQ+ folks.

Hot Topic: Time is Ticking, and the Government Shutdown Continues 

The US entered a government shutdown on October 1st when Congress was unable to pass bills to fund the federal government by September 30th. This could be the longest government shutdown in US history. In the first week of the shutdown, the Trump Administration capitalized on fears by threatening mass layoffs and withholding funding from major cities. The Center for Disease Control (CDC), was hit the hardest by the layoffs, with 1,760 employees

receiving a “reduction in force” (RIF) notice – terminating their employment. Unionized employees fought back and a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from firing employees at 30 federal agencies, citing the action as politically motivated and illegal. Other federal employees have been temporarily furloughed or are working without pay. 

As the shutdown standoff continues over healthcare, people are in fear of losing access to healthcare services and medications. Congressional Democrats are fighting to undo some of the healthcare cuts in Trump’s Big Ugly Murder Bill (aka H.R.1), including addressing the expiration of the enhanced premium tax credits (EPTC). Established in 2021, the EPTC expanded eligibility so more households qualified for lower health insurance premiums and reduced maximum household contribution, ensuring more people could pay less for healthcare on the ACA marketplace. Without Congressional action, premiums could more than double on average for 2026 plans. If the EPTC does expire, people living with HIV could lose coverage, face higher costs, and state ADAPS could constrain eligibility and benefits due to funding. Southern states with no Medicaid expansion will be hit the hardest with the highest increase in the uninsured rate.

Furthermore because of the government shutdown, tens of millions face the possibility of losing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) benefits, state agencies struggle to reimburse schools for free and low-cost meals, and national parks have stopped operations. The US has $6 billion in SNAP contingency funds; however the Trump administration has refused to use 

these funds, which would cover nearly two-thirds of SNAP benefits for November. At the same time, the Trump administration is prioritizing terrorizing our communities by ensuring federal funding streams for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to continue uninterrupted. To learn more about the government shutdown and how we got to this point, please see the new 

 PWN Government Shutdown Factsheet!

Trump’s disruptions have global impact as supply chains for anti-malaria and HIV medication lead to surges in malaria and HIV deaths in other countries. As a response to global health disruptions, the World Health Organizations prequalified oral and injectable LEN, a form of pre-exposure prophylaxis, for global HIV prevention via an accelerated process as means to alter one element of the delivery chain so that countries gain access to HIV medications.  

TAKE ACTION: Contact your congresspeople to urge them to pass a bipartisan spending bill that includes healthcare access and HIV funding. 

 

 Top News Roundup 

LGBTQ+ Health, Rights, and Justice

  • The Supreme Court heard arguments in Chiles v. Salazar which will determine if Colorado’s ban on conversation therapy will be overturned. Unfortunately, despite the American Psychological Association evidence showing conversion therapy as a harmful method and the United Nations acknowledging conversion therapy as a form of torture, the Supreme Court seems likely to overturn the state conversion therapy bans and put LGBTQ+ people risk.
  • Medicaid in Louisiana has denied coverage to trans folks seeking hormone replacement therapy. This change is not a result of federal changes or state legislation changes, instead it is likely an administrative change by the Louisiana Department of Health. In response, Trans Income Project and CrescentCare will cover the cost of hormone replacement therapy medication for medicaid-eligible transgender folks! 
  • The effects of Trump’s executive order on gender continue to be felt across the country as websites are removed, grants canceled, federal surveys changed, and clinics capitulate to the administration – like Boston’s Fenway Health restricting access to hormone treatment. State governments have failed to provide full reprieve. For example, California passed some good bills to protect LGBTQ+ people but Governor Newsom also vetoed access to HIV/AIDS preventive medicine and stronger access to gender-affirming care without discrimination.

Access to Healthcare

  • The two remaining Planned Parenthood clinics in Louisiana have closed since Trump’s Big Ugly Murder Bill’s restriction on using Medicaid funding for services at Planned Parenthood Clinics was upheld by the First Circuit court. Facing funding constraints Planned Parenthood has also closed clinics in Tennessee and Texas. To support Planned Parenthood and advance sexual and reproductive health care and rights, contact your members of congress and urge them to support and co-sponsor the Restoring Essential Health Care Act.
  • As a result of Trump’s rescission of a federal policy that protects hospitals and health clinics from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids, fewer immigrant communities are seeking care, including pregnant immigrants who fear deportation. Fears are warranted as violent ICE raids accelerate and medical care for those detained is subpar. Civil and human rights organizations urged ICE leadership to end the detention of pregnant people and investigate reports of medical negligence in detention sites. 
 

Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice

  • The Trump administration is set to expand the Mexico City Policy, also known as the global gag rule, which requires international organizations receiving U.S. funding to not provide or promote abortion even when it is paid for by non-U.S. funding streams. The new expanded policy would prevent funding organizations from “promoting gender ideology” or “diversity, equity, and inclusion” work. The administration has not provided further clarification, for example programming in Africa that supports women and girls who are disproportionately impacted by HIV could fall under this new expanded rule. 
  • South Carolina proposed bill SB323 seeks a total abortion ban, makes abortion a felony equivalent to homicide with up to 30 year sentence, removes abortion exceptions for rape/incest/fetal anomaly, and criminalizes providing information on how to obtain an abortion. November 18 is the next hearing on the bill andd ACLU South Carolina requests testimonies sent to the South Carolina Senate Medical Affairs Committee to stop the extreme abortion ban. 
 

Economic Justice

  • States warn that SNAP benefits will pause on November 1st as USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service will not distribute benefits due to the government shutdown. This violence is avoidable as two-thirds of the funding needed is available in SNAPs contingency funding, yet the Trump Administration has not released those funds. A group of states filed a lawsuit to stop the suspension of food aid benefits. 
  • The Trump Administration plans to propose regulatory rules for Social Security Disability Insurance changes. If finalized, the rule could effect the biggest Social Security disability cut in US history, decreasing the amount of people that qualify for benefits. 
  • Despite failure to pass bills ensuring access to HIV/AIDS preventive medicine and stronger access to gender-affirming care without discrimination, advocates secured  economic justice wins in California with a passage of a law that prevents for-profit utilities from making customers pay for political lobbying and promotional ads. Labor organizers also secured a win with California Bill SB 261, which fines employers who refuse to pay stolen wages 
 

Ending Criminalization

  • The Trump administration has unleashed terror on Portland and Chicago in service to his Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation machine. Courts and our legal system have failed to provide recourse for our communities. An appeals judge has blocked national guard deployment to Chicago, however military style ICE raids continue to wreck havoc on communities in Chicago. Meanwhile the Court of Appeals for the Ninth District overturned one temporary restraining order (TRO) preventing the National Guard deployment to Portland. If the remaining second TRO is overturned, then troops will be deployed to Portland.  
  • Although the Biden Administration prevented the Department of Homeland Security from using data purchases, the Trump Administration reinstated the practice, allowing ICE to buy surveillance tools that provide location data from millions of cell phones.
  • The Trump administration continues to use executive power to squash opposition by labeling those who oppose the administration as “domestic terrorist” organizations. Following Trump releasing a memo on countering domestic terrorism, the FBI’s organization watchlist continues to expand. 
  • After an appeals court judge paused an order to close Alligator Alcatraz, an immigration detention site in the Florida Everglades, the Trump Administration ramped up the use of the site to disappear detainees by transferring them to other ICE facilities while also subjecting people to inhumane treatment and due process violations. Florida has received $608 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for Alligator Alcatraz and other immigration deportation programs including $38 million to state and local law enforcement for equipment and transportation. 
 

Election Updates

  • SCOTUS heard Louisiana v. Callais, a case regarding black voters and a majority-minority Black district. If the court strikes down the Louisiana black majority district as gerrymandering in violation of the 14th and 15th amendment, then Section 2 of the Voting Rights act (which allows remedies against voter suppression) becomes diluted. 
  • The SAVE Act, an anti-voter bill that would have made voter registration more difficult, failed in Congress. Proponents are now lobbying the Elections Assistance Commission (EAC) to push “show your papers” requirements from the SAVE Act.